I cover technology, entrepreneurs, billionaires and VC's for Forbes. When I get the chance I write about lifestyle and booze too. Previously I edited Forbes's front-of-the-book section "Leaderboard," and was a proud member of the Forbes 400 Wealth Team. Before that I worked on Wall Street. Feel free to follow me on Twitter: stevenbertoni and subscribe to me on Facebook.

Comeback Billionaire: How Adelson Dominates Chinese Gambling And U.S. Politics

Sheldon Adelson: No other American has made more money over the last 3 years

Near default three years ago, Sheldon Adelson has made more money than anyone in America since, dominating Chinese gambling—and U.S. politics. A full-access tour of his $25 billion comeback.

The inner sanctum of one of the most influential men on the planet is situated in the bowels of the massive Venetian hotel in Las Vegas, past the replica Renaissance façade and whirling lines of slot machines, through two sets of unmarked doors, a windowless waiting room, rows of cluttered desks and a coughing miniature poodle. The chummy photos on the walls of the bunker itself, which overlooks a private courtyard, represent a who’s who of conservative royalty, including George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Rudy Giuliani and Benjamin Netanyahu.

But when Sheldon Adelson hobbles into the room, past his walker and motorized scooter, his physical frailty, stemming from a nerve condition, belies his muscular perch. No matter: His handshake and voice remain firm, his mind sharp, and the entire country now wants to know what he’s planning. Adelson’s recent campaign-saving donations to Newt Gingrich have made him a figure of political intrigue. “Those people are either jealous or professional critics,” Adelson tells me during his first interview since bankrolling the former speaker’s super PAC, Winning Our Future, to the tune of eight figures.

Since January he’s turned down hundreds of interview requests, and has been dissected on TV and the Internet thousands of times more. But the media frenzy misses the larger story of Sheldon Adelson. Yes, his support for Gingrich, and hinted support for whoever becomes the GOP nominee, has already upturned the U.S. presidential race. But Adelson’s true power emanates from his international business empire, which has quietly exploded over the past three years. With $12 billion plowed into four casino projects in Macao, he’s likely the largest foreign investor in China—ever. With almost 57 million square feet of resort space, Adelson controls real estate akin to 21 Empire State Buildings. He’s helped turn Singapore, he boasts, “from a stodgy, boring conservative town to a town of excitement and culinary arts and museums.” His power stretches from Israel, where he owns an influential right-wing newspaper and directs hundreds of millions of dollars to local charities, to his home base, Las Vegas, where he controls the 4,000-suite Venetian casino.

The market has responded. A week before my visit, Las Vegas Sands reported record quarterly net revenue ($2.54 billion) off the strength of properties in gambling-crazed Macao and ­announced it would pay its first-ever dividend. Its stock has surged, boasting a market cap of around $39 billion— nearly double the values of gambling ­rivals Wynn and MGM, combined.

Most impressively, the money has come staggeringly fast. Just three years ago Adelson’s empire was facing default, and FORBES estimated that his net worth plunged from $28 billion to about $3 billion. Since then he’s made almost all of it back—Sands’ stock is up 3,700%, and Adelson’s net worth has rebounded to $25 billion, again making him one of the ten richest people in America. The 78-year-old who seemed destined to be a case study on the self-inflicted pitfalls of overleveraging just might have pulled off the greatest turnaround in the postmeltdown era, accumulating more wealth since 2009 than any other American—Mark Zuckerberg included. “I’m too old to be a kid,” says Adelson. “So you can call me the comeback adolescent.”

In 2007 Adelson, like too many Americans, was on a spending spree, loading up $10 billion of debt to fund a $1.9 billion expansion in Las Vegas, a seven-casino, $12 billion project in Macao’s Cotai Strip and his $5.5 billion Marina Bay Sands in Singapore. Investors, frothing at the potential earnings from these massive Asian resorts, valued Sands at an exuberant 60 times Ebidta. “It was like you have the gold mine but hadn’t been able to take the gold out yet,” says Sands President Michael Leven, who was a board member at the time. “But you were priced on the marketplace exactly like you already had the gold.”

In short order Sands ran out of the money needed to finish those mines. Their main revenue source, the Venetian, stalled as Las Vegas hit a soft patch. Construction delays further stretched the balance sheet. Suddenly investors forgot about the company’s growth potential and focused on the massive debt burden. Between October 2007 and January 2008 Sands’ shares plunged 50%.

Analysts and even some of his executives begged Adelson to slow or suspend his construction in order to keep costs down. Adelson kept his foot on the gas. “Some people call me an optimist,” Adelson now says. “The fact is that my appetite for risk was far greater than other people, and my courage in my own conviction was unshakable.” Hubris carried a price: By July 2008 shares were down 80% from the 2007 high.

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A Jay Gould for our time. Greedy beyond words. Obsessed with his own aggrandizement. And the very clinical definition of a sociopath. (If you think I’m just “name calling”, look it up and see for yourself.

Sheldon Adelson represents everything that is wrong with today’s America. It is a disgrace that this man can Legally Bribe (let’s not sugar coat it, okay?) our politicians in an effort to push his own bizarre and sick agenda.

Is Adelson’s Legal Bribery of politicians just “free speech” or is it BUYING THE PUBLIC CONVERSATION and drowning out the other 300+ million of us?

adelson doesn’t represent what’s wrong with america ,he represents what’s typical of jews in america. which is americas biggest threat. the fact that jews contribute over 71% of all congressional and presidential campaigns both democrat and republican should be illegal. and owning 87% of all american media doesn’t happen without coordination. undermining our country by acting as a collective to funnel their wealth to candidates willing to put israel first and using our media to advance their interests is treason.

listen hag, its’ nobody fault but your own that you’ve become a life loser. Based on your obsession with socialism, you should move to Europe. This country wasn’t founded on socialism, and if you don’t like it, get out.

I think barcelona is a safest bet than madrid… barcelona has megacruisers, the MWC, barcelona soccer champions , and the nearby harbour..madrid is a lot like washington, a city of government employees, barcelona is more like new york with a lot of tourism.

Well, we seem to have a bunch of cry babies commenting around here. He has too much money, whaa, whaa, whaa. He is Jewish and Pro-Isreal – whaa, whaa, whaa. He donates to super-pacs like everyone else in the country can do – whaa, whaa, whaa. Cry babies…

Well I’m glad I read this article. For starters, I’m no fan of Sheldon Adelson. He has explicitly made known his disdain for serving in the US military while being an outspoken supporter of a country he does not live in and did not provide him with the assets to become the man he is today. That being said, the man is a brilliant business man and after reading this article I have more respect for his aptitude for business, but that is not the issue I am worried about.

The simple fact is this man is a telling example of what is wrong with politics today. A single person, entity, or interest that because of their immense wealth and connections can, and will, use it to further their agenda. It happens on both sides of the aisle, however this guy really takes it to a new level. Don’t get me wrong though, I don’t have anything against Israel, I appreciate their companionship in the Middle East and understand the complex relationship we have with them. However, Israel is no different from any other country in my eyes. What they do is their business, likewise, what we do is our business. We owe NOTHING to them and they owe NOTHING to us. It made me sad to hear that the US was over their begging them not to attack Iran. The truth of the matter is, I don’t care if they attack Iran, but I also think we have no obligation to come to their side if they do. If they want to instigate a war with another country that is completely fine. They are a sovereign nation capable of doing so, just don’t expect help from big brother.

But back to the case of Sheldon. Business wise, this guy is a flat out genius, albeit a lucky one, who has been able to see opportunities in adverse situations and then capitalize on them. Morally, I think he’s about as substantial as a man who made his fortune of people’s vices (but who says business has to be moral!). So in closing, keep your hands out of politics Sheldon, especially when your interest has nothing to do with the country that made you, you. If you want to help Israel, go back to Israel and do your business there, but using your money and power to coerce the US into a situation that benefits us 0 ways is both morally corrupt and plain stupid. Of course this is going to fall on deaf ears but I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels this way.

that’s great you think that Bonnie but you don’t get to force your worldview on other people. It’s like Rand Paul said, the left fights for choice on women’s abortion but that’s it. They want to dictate everything else we do, like bonnie the socialist.

the government giving solyndra hundreds of millions of dollars isn’t moral. I know you think oil companies are evil but the tax subsidies they receive are identical to big tech companies, like apple and liberals love big tech companies.

I would like to ask JFK, Bob, JFK Jr. Martin Luther and Hoffa what they think about you……Haaaa but they were assassinated…in favor of what? Drugs, arms, petroleum, Gambling, prostitutes and piracy in short anything that would make a buck regardless of consequence the type of person that would make me prefer to be locked in a dark room with a rabid dog armed with a toot pick than with you in a lit room armed with a pistol…Indeed a crazy lady coming out of the desert singing in an operetta form saying that Dallas had been a stage and the order came from NY, Chicago and Las Vegas….and that the next 3 presidents were just filling the chair…and Hollywood was distracting the masses…but after sitting in the knee of Raoul Wallenberg and sucking to Shindler i can understand the hunger but it was of your own making. Like my Rabbi priest from Ethiopia say: There is money that can buy you property and happy days in this generation and the next and there is money that buy you property and happy days in this generation and hell in the next and both look the same….understand you pathological Megalomaniac!!!